NEW YORK, (Reuters) – A female employee of an upstate New York prison was arrested on Friday on charges that she helped two inmates stage a daring escape from the maximum security facility, authorities said.
Joyce Mitchell, an industrial training supervisor at the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, is suspected of having smuggled contraband into the prison, where convicts Richard Matt and David Sweat escaped last weekend, authorities said.
Mitchell, 51, is charged with promoting prison contraband and criminal facilitation, according to the New York State Police. If convicted, she could face seven years in prison.
She was slated to be arraigned later yesterday, authorities said.
“This is one large piece of the puzzle in our quest to find these two escaped murderers,” New York State Police Major Charles Guess said at a news conference.
